Arts & Humanities Reviews | June 15, 2013

Before journalist Agee (1909–55) and photographer Evans (1903–75) published Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), a 400-page blend of prose and photography documenting the lives of three tenant farming families living in Hale County, AL, at the height of the Great Depression, they completed a heavily researched precursor titled Cotton Tenants. Commissioned in 1936 by Fortune magazine, the unpublished typescript was rediscovered in 2010. Beautifully written, the work is a stark, lucid, and organized indictment of the U.S. economic system, reporting its effects on the lives of three white sharecropping families. Arranged in chapters (e.g., business, food, shelter, clothing, picking season, etc.) and illustrated throughout with Evans’s photographs, the work doesn’t compare to the 1941 book, as author Adam Haslett (You Are Not a Stranger Here) in the book’s introduction describes it as a “poet’s brief,” noting Agee’s level of inquiry, that if applied to today’s culture, would “help burn off some of that fog, waking us from the fantasy that we can all earn or win lottery sums.” VERDICT Accessible, hard-hitting, moving, and still thematically relevant. Highly recommended for all collections.—Audrey Snowden, Orrington P.L., ME

Moretti (literature, Stanford Univ.; Signs Taken for Wonders) examines the notion of the 19th-century “bourgeois,” their middle-class values, and well-known works such as Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe as well as lesser-known novels such as Dinah Craik’s 1856 John Halifax, Gentleman. He also investigates how diction changed through the 19th century as seen in the novels’ characters. Added is the expertise of theorists Georg Lukács and Max Weber, among others, and the analysis of literary databases and proper use of encoded text employed in the digital humanities. For instance, Moretti acknowledges the rise of free indirect style, the subjugation of the subjective, the emergence of description in 19th-century literature as a signifier for “reality,” and makes the worthy observation that “bourgeois” style balances a line between comedy and tragedy. Moretti’s style works for philosophically minded readers and yet remains a bit slippery owing to its deferment of meaning—a deferment amplified by Moretti’s questionable connection of “bourgeois” to “middle class.”VERDICT This work is history and literary criticism steeped in a social consciousness for readers who love language and the granularity of word play and for hard-working thinkers.—Jesse A. Lambertson, Arlington P.L., VA

Freedman (columnist, New York Times)here looks at the nexus of 20th-century American culture, race, and civil rights through sports as he takes readers back to 1967 when two historically black college football powerhouses, Grambling and Florida A&M (FAMU), played against each other at the Orange Blossom Classic to determine the champion of black college football. He focuses on the coaches—Grambling’s Eddie Robinson and FAMU’s Jake Gaiter—and their quarterbacks, James Harris and Ken Riley, respectively. Robinson dreamt of Harris breaking the NFL barrier for black quarterbacks, while Gaither wished simply that a black college might play a white one in the Deep South. Ironically, while both coaches spent a lifetime effecting slow but real change by working within the system, they came in for blistering criticism from 1960s activists for not striking a more radical stance. Freedman’ssubtitle exaggerates: Harris indeed became a pioneer quarterback and executive in the NFL, while Riley transformed into a star pro defensive back, but they were part of a long and slow progression of change. VERDICT This story is expertly reported and engagingly written. Both sports fans and students of 20th-century American studies will be drawn to it.—John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ

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The following titles are reviewed in the June 15 print issue. Visit Book Verdict for the full reviews.